The Balkan
by SOGH1963
Summary: Summary Inside. I DO NOT OWN GENERAL HOSPITAL OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS


**The Balkan**

**Summary: **When the Balkan comes after Brenda in Port Charles, will it prove to be someone she had a close relationship with?

In her hotel room, Brenda Barrett was somewhat listening to Suzanne Stanwyck's paranoia about the nameless, faceless crime figure who is known as The Balkan. Brenda didn't feel the need to listen to Suzanne since it was the same thing over and over again. "Stay inside. Warn your bodyguards when you're going out. Blah. Blah. Blah." Brenda was very stubborn when it came to her security. She didn't feel the need to upgrade her security for some person who has only made veiled threats to her twice and hasn't even come after her yet. She didn't think The Balkan even wanted to kill her, but Suzanne had her doubts and she couldn't be too careful. Brenda is the face of her charity, The Alliance to Save Exploited Children (but most people call it ASEC) and she nor the children could risk losing their celebrity face who brings in so much money to a crime figure who wants Brenda for whatever reason.

Brenda hates security. She always has. She says it complicates things. So it's no doubt that every time she went out, she tried to ditch her security despite Suzanne's suggestions. Brenda was around thugs her whole life (okay maybe only since she was 17). The Balkan's threats were amateur compared to the ones she received from Jerry Jacks when she was with his brother Jasper Jacks and from Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan's enemies when she was apart of their lives. She didn't need security to go down to the hotel garden to get some fresh air, but her security wouldn't think so. So being Brenda Barrett, she decided to try and loose them. She opened the door to see her security men there. She had to find a way to lose them. She pushed her way out and ran down the halls, making lefts and rights down every possible corridor on her floor, constantly looking back to see how far behind they were. By the time she completely lost them, she had come full circle back to her hotel room. She looked left then right then left again. Once the coast was clear, she walked into the elevator and headed down to the main floor.

Once the elevator opened on the main floor, Brenda walked into the lobby and headed out to the garden. "Perfect" she thought. "Now I can prove that I don't need security everywhere I go." She sat on the bench when a waitress came up to her asking if she wanted anything. That's when Brenda remembered that the garden had a restaurant. Brenda told the waitress to get her and iced tea. The waitress left and Brenda took in the view of the gorgeous flowers and families dining on food. This was Brenda's first time being here on her own. She usually had her security team with her. The red, pink, and yellow flowers all around her made her happy and feel peaceful. She thought about bringing Suzanne down to the garden to clear her head of this bogus Balkan ideas. The waitress brought Brenda her iced tea and Brenda reached into her pocket to grab the money, but the waitress told her that it was on the house. Brenda thanked the waitress and then went to go back to her hotel room.

Brenda came to her hotel door and her bodyguards weren't there. They were running around the hotel in search for her. Brenda unlocked her door and opened it. Her hotel room was trashed. Things broken and thrown all over the place, furniture flipped upside-down. She slowly walked in, examining everything and carefully avoiding stepping on broken glass. She couldn't believe it, but she knew this was the work of the Balkan. It was just another veiled threat. She noticed the window, which was locked when she left, was wide open and the cold air was coming in. Brenda went to go close it, when all of a sudden everything went black as she fell to the floor. Standing above her were 2 men in masks (very similar to the one's Jerry Jacks and his thugs wore when they raided the Metro Court Hotel in 2007.)

After 8 minutes, Brenda finally regained consciousness. She looked around her. She was still in her hotel room and tied to a chair. "Ms. Barrett. You're a real challenge, but catching you this time was really easy considering the room was a mess" said one of the thugs while the other one was holding a diamond bracelet. "Give me that!" Brenda demanded. The thug waved it in front of her face "You want it, you get it" he said with a chuckle. Brenda gave up. She really wanted the bracelet back because Sonny gave it to her. She had gotten rid of everything that Sonny gave her on the night of their wedding when he never showed up. She got rid of everything except for that bracelet. She figured that the bracelet was a sign that she may still be able to have Sonny one day. There was a knock at the door "Brenda. It's Suzanne. Open up." Brenda was just about to scream when one of the thugs covered her mouth. "Brenda. I'm seriously worried about you. Your guards are nowhere to be found. Come on Brenda. Open up" said Suzanne, knocking even louder. "Not a sound" whispered the thug who was still holding the bracelet. Both of them opened the window and dropped their rope ladder down and climbed down it. Suzanne opened the door to find Brenda tied to a chair. "Oh my" Suzanne said in shock as she ran over to untie Brenda. "What on earth happened to you?" Suzanne asked sounding really worried. Brenda just looked at her and Suzanne automatically knew that the Balkan was behind this. Brenda's security team showed up and were shocked at what they found. Suzanne freaked out on them. She kept saying how they should've never left Brenda alone or her hotel room. Then she did something that no one was expecting. She fired them right on the spot. Brenda was worried. Before it was just threats, but now they knocked her out and tied her to the chair. Without security, Brenda was in great danger. Brenda needed bodyguards.

Suzanne told Brenda to watch her back and then she left. Brenda sat on the couch and opened her laptop. She searched The Balkan. She needed to learn more about the person who was behind her attacks. She couldn't find anything. This Balkan was very good at covering his tracks and that fact scared Brenda even more. She hated the fact that The Balkan knew everything about her and she knew nothing about him. It gave him the upper hand advantage when it came to "playing war." He knew where to find her, when to find her and her weaknesses. She knew that he goes by The Balkan. She can't win and she knew it.

After trying to widen her search, there was a knock at the door. Brenda walked over to the door, looked through the peep hole and then opened the door. Brenda's friend Robin Scorpio was standing in the doorway. Brenda and Robin gave each other a hug and then Brenda told Robin to come in. Robin told Brenda about Lisa coming after her and Emma. Brenda asked Robin where Emma was and Robin said that Emma was with Anna in New York City. Brenda told Robin about The Balkan. Robin looked at Brenda as if she had an idea, then she came out with it "Why don't you come back to Port Charles with me? We can help protect each other." Brenda looked at Robin and she agreed to go back to Port Charles with Robin. Brenda went to go pack her bags and Robin's eyes moved to Brenda's laptop screen and it said "The Balkan." When Brenda came out of the bedroom, she called Suzanne and told her that she was going back to Port Charles because she had people who could protect her there. Robin and Brenda headed out to the private jet, that Cartullo had for Brenda, and flew to Port Charles.

When they arrived in Port Charles, Brenda said that she was going to see Sonny and Robin said that she would take her there. The two of them got into Robin's car and drove off to Sonny's. Once they got to Sonny's, Robin got a call saying that she had to go to work. Brenda got out of the car and Robin drove off to General Hospital. Brenda walked up to the door, when the door flew open. Jason came running out, past Brenda, and then he stopped and turned around. "Brenda?" he asked, shocked. She nodded and then he left. She just walked inside, where Sonny was sitting on the couch. He seemed worried, but when Brenda cleared her throat and Sonny turned around all the worry seemed to disappear. Brenda and Sonny hugged each other and then sat on the couch. Brenda told Sonny about the Balkan and he agreed to help set up a security team for her, but she wanted answers about why he looked so worried before she made her presence known. Sonny told Brenda that he couldn't see his son, Michael because he was a bad influence on him. Brenda felt so bad for him because she new how much he loved his kids. He told her to move into the house with him and even though she was a little reluctant at first, she agreed that he could protect her and she actually liked him.

Sonny walked her up to her room and she began to unpack her things as Sonny went downstairs to tell Max and Milo about Brenda's stay and that she would need security. Max and Milo agreed to protect Brenda from anything suspicious, when the front door flew open and Dante Falconeri walked in. Sonny told Max and Milo to go check on Brenda and once they left, Sonny told Dante to sit down. Dante sat down and confronted Sonny about trying to protect a supermodel. Dante believed that Sonny was just putting Benda in more danger, but Sonny believed that she would have the best protection under his roof. Dante suggested that he help Max and Milo guard Brenda and Sonny thought it would be a great idea, but it would have to be Brenda's decision. Max and Milo came down the stairs and Brenda followed close behind. She couldn't believe it when she saw Dante there and she couldn't believe that he was Sonny's son. She had a relationship with Dante a couple of years ago and when she left Manhattan, she thought that she would never see him again. Brenda agreed to have Dante guard her as well as Max and Milo.

Brenda said that she was going to take a nap and then she walked upstairs. Sonny said that he had to go to Carly's to check on Morgan because he called and sounded worried. Dante told him that he would be okay guarding Brenda on his own. Max and Milo took Sonny to his car and they drove to Carly's, while Dante paced back and forth in Sonny's living room. He clearly had something on his mind. He walked upstairs to see Brenda, who was already sound asleep, and he sat down at the foot of her bed. He stared at her as she peacefully slept. He began to get inpatient waiting for her to wake up, so he forcefully woke her up. She woke up and looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "Where is our baby?" he asked. Brenda looked at him and said that the baby was kidnapped in the middle of the night a few years ago and she hasn't seen her since. Then she started to tear up because the thought of her little girl (who was 2 months old when she was kidnapped) being out there, with not a clue that her mom loves her, all alone scared her. Dante pulled out a picture of their little girl and handed it to Brenda. Brenda looked at the picture and said "This picture. Our daughter. She's 3 years old. Dante. You know where our daughter is?" Dante responded "Of course I do. I'm the one that took her. I've been raising her with the help of my mother and no my mother doesn't know who the mother is." Brenda looked at him as if she had been backstabbed and then she asked "Why would you do this?" Dante looked into her eyes and said "Brenda. I'd like you to meet The Balkan" as he pointed to himself. "You're The Balkan?" asked Brenda. "Yup" said Dante and then he tried to grab her. She screamed as a reaction even though no one was in the house. Her scream kept getting louder and louder as Dante got closer and closer.

The bedroom door flung open and there was Brenda's hero (whether she would admit it or not) Jason Morgan. He jumped toward Dante and pulled him away. He asked Dante what he was doing and Dante said that he was The Balkan. Jason pushed Dante onto the chair and tied him up and called Sonny. Sonny was so disappointed that Dante tried to ruin Brenda's life. Brenda asked Jason how to get to Olivia's and he told her. Brenda dashed out of Sonny's and found her way to Olivia's.

Brenda managed to get her daughter back. Dante got psychiatric help and was released from Shadybrook 6 months later and he was good as new. Sonny was able to see Michael. The Balkan was no more.


End file.
